WCCCE '97

2nd
WESTERN CANADIAN CONFERENCE
ON COMPUTING EDUCATION

MAY 1st and 2nd 1997

Malaspina University College
Nanaimo, BC

Sponsored by

British Columbia Computers in Education Committee

Supported by

Malaspina University College
School of Computing & Academic Studies, BCIT
Computer Information Systems, University College of the Fraser Valley
Computer Science Department, University of Victoria
Computer Science Department, University of British Columbia

A Word from the WCCCE Chair

Welcome to the 2nd Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education. Our conference has successfully
overcome the turbulence of its inaugural year and increased its recognition at the national level. With the generous
support of Malaspina University College, the Department of Computer Information Systems of the
University College of the Fraser Valley, the School of Computing and Academic Studies of BCIT, and the Computer
Science departments of UBC and UVic, we managed to achieve our goals.

This year, we started the conference announcement earlier and had the opportunity to advertise it in all the major
universities and colleges across the country. We received papers from the University of Alberta, University of Calgary
and Acadia University. Our goal for next year is to attract papers from the US institutions and the Pacific Rim
countries.

The paper review and selection process was slightly different this year. In the first phase
we asked the authors to submit extended abstracts of their work. The abstracts were initially reviewed by two reviewers. If the
recommendations of both reviewers were compatible, we followed them. In the case of conflicting recommendations,
a third reviewer was selected to resolve the conflict. In the second phase, the completed papers
that had been accepted were reviewed again for additional suggestions and comments.
The process was time consuming, but it produced excellent results in terms of preserving
the quality of the papers presented in this session.

The conference committee would like to thank all the authors who submitted papers in
keeping with high quality standards. We also owe thanks to the dedicated reviewers who
offered their valuable knowledge and suggestions that further improved the papers.

The other important aspect of this year's program is to include discussions on gender
related issues in Computing Education. We are fortunate that Maria Klawe has accepted our
invitation to initiate the gender issues thread of our program with the keynote address this year.

WCCCE '97 would not be possible without the efforts of many volunteers. The program
committee would like to express its gratitude and appreciation to our coordinator, Holly
Mitchell, for her energy and commitment to attending to all the details and keeping
everyone in sync. We also appreciate the continuous effort and attention of Dominique
Roelants who took care of the final details and the local arrangements.

Finally, we would like to emphasize that your participation is equally important. Your
comments, discussions and interactions is a fundamental ingredient for the success of our conference.